TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted drive. On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password or correct encryption key. Until decrypted, a TrueCrypt volume appears to be nothing more than a series of random numbers. The entire file system is encrypted (i.e., file names, folder names, contents of every file, and free space).

This software is highly recommended for securing data on laptops.

TrueCrypt performs the following tasks:

Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.

Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.

Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).

Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.

Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password: 1) Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system. 2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).

Please Note: According to the programs author, TrueCrypt is not secure because it could contain unfixed security issues, therefore you should download TrueCrypt only if you are migrating data encrypted by TrueCrypt.

As The development of TrueCrypt was ended in 5/2014 you should migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images supported on your platform.

* The boot loader now supports motherboards with BIOSes that reserve large amounts of base memory (typically for onboard RAID controllers). Note: In order to be able to take advantage of this improvement under Windows Vista, you will have to install Service Pack 1 or higher first. Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista resolved an issue causing a shortage of free base memory during system boot. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003) * Mounting using the 'Auto-Mount Devices' feature may take significantly less time as partitions containing unencrypted filesystems are now skipped. (Windows) * When volumes that are mounted as read-only or removable are saved as favorite volumes, they are mounted as read-only and/or removable when 'Mount Favorite Volumes' is used. * When a multiple-pass wipe algorithm is selected when performing in-place encryption of a non-system volume, the header areas will be wiped before the encrypted headers are written to the disk. Note: On an existing volume, you can perform such an operation by changing its password and/or keyfiles. (Windows) * Many other minor improvements, bug fixes and security enhancements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)